Mission runners continue to improve, Alexander eyes state
Melea Burke
Mission senior Paden Alexander leads at the start of the Ronan Invitational cross-country meet Sept. 15. Alexander took third in the race and posted his best time yet of 15:19.
Melea Burke
Kaylie Durglo, left; Carley Elverud, top; Courtney Heath, right; and Lindsay Johnson, bottom; get fired up before their race at the Ronan Invitational cross-country meet Sept. 15.
Melea Burke
Bulldog Raymond Matt makes running look easy at the Ronan Invitational Sept. 15.
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Lady Bulldog Courtney Heath leads a downhill charge during the Ronan Invitational cross-country meet.
Melea Burke
Tate Weingard keeps the pace.
Melea Burke
Smoky conditions at the Ronan Invitational prompt Carley Elverud, right, to use an inhaler during the race as she runs alongside teammate Lindsay Johnson.
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
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It’s been a good fall for the Mission cross-country team. The Bulldog harriers have risen to the occasion time and time again, dropping seconds off their best times at nearly every meet.
“It’s great to see each athlete improve,” coach Marc Cutler said. “It was our goal at the beginning of the season, and we are reaching this goal. I’m so proud of each of my athletes.”
For Cutler, who came to Mission after coaching high school track and middle school football in Absorakee last year, it’s his athletes’ enthusiasm and dedication that makes the Bulldog team special.
“(The runners) want to be out there,” he said.
Paden Alexander, the only senior on the team, is a prime example of that dedication, Cutler noted. Running 15 miles and biking 30 miles a day during the summer, Alexander works hard, and it shows.
“He’s just a wonderful kid … he has high expectations for himself,” Cutler said.
Alexander’s performance so far this season has proven that extra time training is worth it. At the Ronan Invitational two weeks ago, Alexander posted his best time yet, 15:19, in a third-place finish behind two Class AA athletes. And that was despite hazy, smoky weather that had several runners choked up.
“I just like running, I guess,” Alexander said after his race. “I’m really happy.”
As long as Alexander has faster runners to chase, mom Bernadette says there no reason he can’t pick up the pace enough to win state, after he runs a “14:50-something” at divisionals. The divisional meet will be held in Ronan on a familiar course, which can only help.
“He can do it; we know he can,” Bernadette said.
The 2011 3,200-meter state track champion, Alexander was 10th at the state cross-country meet his sophomore year and fifth last year. If the formula proves correct, he’s set to take first this year.
“Our goal is for him to win state, and we hope he does,” Cutler said.
With six boys also on the football roster and three of the team’s four girls also playing volleyball, it can be difficult to field a full roster at every meet, but Cutler noted he admires the students who work extra hard to compete in more than one sport at a time.
Kaylie Durglo is one of those, playing volleyball and participating in several other clubs and extra-curricular activity.
“By the end of the week, I’m pretty tired,” she admitted with a smile.
With a total of four girls, the Lady Bulldogs don’t qualify for the team competitions, but that doesn’t taint the girls’ love for the sport.
“(Running) clears your head,” Durglo noted.
Having just four girls makes for a tightly knit group of athletes, too.
“I’d say we’re pretty close,” Carley said. “We joke a lot.”
“You push your teammates,” Durglo added.
At the team’s most recent meet in Thompson Falls last Thursday, seven of Mission’s eight boys competed, and only one girl ran. She didn’t finish the race due to a medical condition, Cutler noted. Alexander won the boys’ race in 15:57, decidedly slower than his personal best, but 27 seconds faster than the second-place runner from Whitefish.
The Bulldogs will compete at the Mountain West meet in Missoula on Saturday.
Thompson Falls Invitational
Paden Alexander, 15:57, first
Tate Weingard, 20:38
Karl Daniels, 23:21
Ethan Goss-Dickie, 24:40
Jamie Mullins, 25:37
Nick Durglo, 25:37
Robbie Erickson, 25:43
